Tag Archives: female figure

Barcelona based artist Conrad Roset defines the “Muse” in his incredibly seductive works made using watercolor and ink. Pulling inspiration from the raw nudes of Austrian artist Egon Schiele, his female figures stretch and bend in elegant ways, forming distinct, bold lines across the composition. He uses deep, black ink that covers up these women’s bodies like a veil, creating a harsh contrast to their pale skin. Each muse wears this blanket of black beautifully, as if it is her own shadow. Conrad Roset uses sparks of color to highlight the flora that appear in his work and also in certain rosy cheeks and the tips of fingers and toes. The subtly of the color and line creates a delicate contrast to the richness of the heavy black ink.

Conrad Roset explains that,

“I search the beauty the body exudes, I like drawing the female figure.”

He is intrigued and focused on the female figure as a subject. The women in his illustrations are undoubtedly stunning, and can also seem both fragile and strong. They are bold in nature but delicate in beauty. Roset’s body of work has a high fashion flavor, as he has done work for clients such as Zara and Elle Magazine. His captivating works are on view now at Spoke Art Gallery in San Francisco. His debut, solo exhibition titled Pale will be on view there until September 26th. (via Hi-Fructose)

Artist Valerie Blass reimagines an age-old subject in art, the figure, and uses her distinctive artistic vision to create her intriguing sculptures. She manipulates and abstracts the human form until some of her subjects look like entirely different beings. By constructing her artwork from an eclectic variety of different materials, each figure becomes highly stylized and unique. Ceramic, Styrofoam, paint, plaster, and even artificial hair are just some of the materials that can be found making up Blass’s artwork. Referencing material culture, one can see the many textures and elements transforming each figure.

Valerie Blass’s figures hold in intense, psychological quality due to their lack of identities. Although there are many fine details in her work, Blass often leaves out the figures’ face. Sometimes, even part of the body is gone. These aspects are replaced by surreal characteristics such as a heap of black hair or a colorful, organic mass. Each piece of Valerie Blass’s takes on a life of their own, with their own, unique textures and colors forming a new kind of creature. Her work is both bizarre and beautiful all at the same time, leaving you puzzled about what exactly it was that you saw. This Canadian artist has an impressive body of work, with her art being owned in both public and private collections around the world.

The dissecting cuts and lines shooting across the work of artist Jason Thielke create incredible images of figures full of expression. His incredible, illustrative art is made by laser cutting wood panels, with acrylic paint and ink to add color and highlight details. Many of his pieces have so many lines etched into the work; it is difficult to tell the negative space from the positive. Thielke makes great use of negative space in his etchings, forming intricate and dynamic shape and composition. Each figure contains so many marks streaking across their body, adding shapes and patterns that form constellations within them.

Thielke’s lines seem organic, swirling around the figures hair and face, forming expression. However, the etched lines are also highly geometric and architectural, building a blue print for the body. Such drastic, harsh angles create a dramatic atmosphere with striking faces filled with piercing eyes. These intersecting lines express,

“conflict between one’s ability to implement self control and compulsion to manipulate and constantly self-gratify.”

Thielke’s fragmented bodies cut through you with a powerful emotion as they keep pulling you deep under their spell, inviting you to examine every cut in the composition. The artist does not only uses the technique of laser etching to create his figures, but has also inked his cut wood panels like a woodblock and then used them to make prints. Thielke has exhibited all across the U.S. from Boston to San Francisco. His work can be found at David B. Smith Gallery in Denver, Colorado, where Thielke currently lives.

In the digital age and generation of the selfie, a spiraling and often disorienting importance placed on consumerism and commodities permeates even the most remote of regions. Through the billboard jungles and beehive of mass media, images relentlessly promoting youth and sexuality haphazardly depict ideals of femininity. Creating a wormhole of inadequacies, the female form has found itself in a constant tug-of-war in either defending its natural state or scrambling to correct propagated notions of aesthetic shortcomings. As Barbara Kruger famously stated on one of her notorious gelatin silver prints from the 1980’s, “You Are Not Yourself”.

Really nice work from Australian artist Abbey McCulloch. There’s almost a fashion illustration vibe with these paintings, which feature female figures staring at you from eyes weighed down with heavy makeup. And so often when an artist does cite fashion illustration as an influence, what they really mean is straight up fashion illustration placed in a gallery setting. That wouldn’t be the case with McCulloch’s work, whether she drew direct inspiration from the realm of fashion or not. Her palette selection is so good. And the expressions on her subjects’ faces, captured with just a few brushstrokes, are uncommonly evocative. Click past the jump to see more. (via)